Union official 'blinsided' by Lightolier closure

By Katie Lannan, klannan@lowellsun.com

Updated:
11/17/2012 06:36:04 AM EST

WILMINGTON -- The announcement that Philips Electronics would close its local Lightolier manufacturing center came days before the plant's 197 union employees were set to start bargaining on a new contract, according to union officials.

John Horak, the business manager and financial secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1499, said in a statement that he was "blindsided" to learn on Friday, Nov. 9, that the plant would close within the next six to nine months.

The union's current contract was set to expire Nov. 15, with good-faith negotiations beginning two days before that.

Instead, Horak said, what took place was bargaining for severance packages. These talks are scheduled to continue later this month.

"As you can imagine, it is very disheartening to be sitting in a room with the union committee and the Wilmington management staff knowing that they are losing their jobs," Horak said.

A representative from U.S. Rep. John Tierney's office attended the discussions this week, which Tierney said was an effort to make sure the employees get the benefits and considerations they're entitled to under federal law.

"It's an unfortunate situation," said Tierney, a Democrat whose district includes Wilmington. "It'll be devastating for these families, and hard for the communities, so we just want to make sure it all goes correctly from a federal standpoint."

Headquartered in Fall River, Lightolier falls under the lighting division of the Netherlands-based Philips Electronics.

In 2010, Philips Lighting announced it would shut down two of its facilities, in Sparta, Tenn., and Fontana, Calif.

The fixtures assembled at the Fontana plant were then moved to Wilmington for production. Horak said this made last Friday's announcement even more of a surprise.

According to Horak, employees were "extremely emotional and distraught" when they were told of the closure that afternoon and sent home with pay. The second shift came in at 4 p.m. and was sent home as well after receiving the news.

Earlier this week, Philips spokeswoman Sylvie Casanova told The Sun she could not say if other plant closings would follow this one. She said the company was "not quite sure at this point" what would happen to the jobs of the plant employees.

Later, Casanova said Philips would run retraining and job-placement programs in conjunction with local and state officials.

Town Manager Jeff Hull said he had not heard from anyone at Philips about these efforts, but would be receptive to the idea.

"That's certainly a good thing and we'll work with them to the extent that we can," Hull said.

The town receives about $250,000 a year in property taxes from the company, Hull said.

"Any time you lose a business, it's going to have an impact," he said. "We're disappointed that they're going to be closing."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.